Review: Skullcandy SLYR Gaming Headset

Over here at NR we recently received a new pair of gaming headphones from Skullcandy. It has been awhile since Skullcandy has released a gaming headset. I vividly remember my friend purchasing one of their first models back in 2009. The manufacturer has changed a lot since then. In 2011, Skullcandy purchased the renowned pro gaming headphone maker Astro Gaming. This year Skullcandy has decided to reenter the gaming headphone market with their new line of SLYR Gaming Headphones. With Astro now a part of the family brand, can Skullcandy make quality gaming headphones for an affordable price?

Design

The Skullcandy SLYR Gaming Headset has a very sleek and stylish look. The headphones are all black and are made with a very sturdy plastic. The headband for the gaming headset are adjustable and are padded for optimal comfort. The earcups are also adjustable and can pivot accordingly to the size of your head. The earcups themselves are padded with the very same soft material that lines the inside of the headband. The earcups are rigidly cut to fit the form of your ear nice and snug. The only problem I found is that it may be too small for someone with larger ears. I tried this out with my friend and he could not fit his ears into the mold.

The mic conveniently folds up into the side of the headphone cup and is easy to move and adjust. The headset comes with a pretty long cable to make up for the fact that they are not wireless headphones. The cable powers the headphones via USB and connects to a sound mix controller that allows you to mute and adjust the volume. The controller also has a couple of preset EQ settings.

Sound

The sound for the Skullcandy SLYR headset comes in virtual surround sound. This is not uncommon for a gaming headphone set in this price range. The sound for the SLYR is pretty good though. You can clearly hear the game audio and chat audio. There is also no distortion when you put the volume up to the highest setting. There is however, a small amount of hiss in the background, but this is only if you really have these babies cranked all the way up. The SLYR uses a GMX in-mixer dongle to give players three different audio presents: Bass, Supreme and Precision.

Bass is pretty self explanatory. Supreme is more of a balanced setting good for wide open worlds with a lot of background sound. Precision is a good setting for FPS players. This setting lets you really hone in on the sound of enemy footsteps and movement.

Final Verdict

All in all, these are a great pair of headphones at an affordable price. For $79.99 players definitely get their money’s worth, and it is especially nice that the SLYRs work on three different platforms. If you are looking into buying some gaming headphones and are not looking into the $200 dollar range. I would highly recommend these. Skullcandy has definitely taken some cues from Astro and have made a good quality affordable product.